A Knight's Tale

As with all tales there must be a beginning ......

The inspiration for this post is shown in the photo above of the splendid 'standard bearing' knight from Roy Selwyn Smiths 'Knights of Agincourt' range. The range of five mounted and five dismounted knights were sculpted in 1950 for Selwyn Smiths own venture, which failed when his American backer died in 1951. Original 'Selwyn Smith' figures command huge sums of money, due to the high quality of the paintwork and their very limited production run of a few months. Fortunately he sold the moulds to Britains in 1954 and they were kept in continuous production until 1966. 

I acquired this example at the last Stafford toy fair for £20 which was a fair price considering the condition. These mounted Knights are expensive, and my other three examples were very much 'indulgent' single buys over two or three years at an average of about £35 each. As regular readers know, I am a toy soldier enthusiast but a gamer first and collector second. I rarely acquire items just for display and indeed these expensive veteran Knights are used in my games. This example is the fourth of the series of five, leaving me one more to buy when opportunity and finance coincide.

It was £20 because it had definite signs of wear. The standard arm was detached and there was paint missing from the horses legs and elsewhere. I decided to buy it and 'touch up' the paint and add it to my medieval armies. You see the finished article which looks fine (in my eyes at least) and he looks good alongside his three fellow knights (all of whom are close to mint condition hence their cost).

They are in my humble opinion, the best toy knights ever made for mass commercial consumption, at least in metal....Britains Swoppet Knights must win the argument in plastic!

The five foot figures are not quite as nice as the mounted ones in my eyes, although still lovely figures. I just cannot understand why two of the five are charging an opponent with a couched lance! A spear maybe, but a lance? An odd choice. At present, I have examples of four of the foot figures and you may notice that I have attached them to mdf bases for stability. Heresy I hear you say , but they could be removed without damage and gaming practicality comes first here at Apperley Towers!

Speaking of which, four knights is no good as my preferred rules demand six or twelve in a unit. Well  a very badly damaged fifth figure was repaired and painted beautifully for me by my good friend John and I have since happened upon a sixth duplicate pose for two or three pounds which will do until I acquire an example of the missing fifth figure pose.

This brings me neatly to a mystery which I doubt I will ever get to the bottom of. A few years back I was lucky enough to acquire from another great friend and toy soldier enthusiast, John Begg, four unpainted castings of the mounted knights. I cannot be 100% certain, but John had acquired a few auction lots from the estate of Roy Selwyn Smith and I think these may have come from that auction. All four are stamped Britains under the base, but three of them are solid cast (and weigh double the weight of the Britains hollow cast versions) with only the fourth being a hollow cast figure. They have all been expertly 'tinkered with' in small ways, ie a tuft of grass under a raised hoof, a new banner, lance pennants added, and the sword carrying figure has a lance arm instead. In the original Selwyn Smith range the lance arm was an alternative version to the sword arm but this was never replicated by Britains. Finally, some of the bases are soldered on in different places, but still look factory finished. So what is the origin and story of these four knights?

The fact that three of them are solid cast, would suggest home recasts. This is a perfectly reasonable option but they just don't 'feel' home cast. For a start, they are identical in size to my Britains originals, ie no mould shrinkage. Secondly, the soldering of the bases looks identical to my factory Britains. Also, why recast figures that were not expensive years ago? Additionally, the modifications have a very professional 'old school' feel to them, ie done by someone with skill and experience. The lance arm on the usual sword carrying pose also raises its own questions. 

I asked James Opie for his opinion but he was unable to proffer a theory either. I am inclined to think these may be test casts retained by Selwyn Smith which he was 'tinkering around with', but its unlikely I will ever get to the truth. Either way, they are splendid figures and I am looking forward to attempting the painting when the stars align.

I want to paint them in a more detailed and complex heraldry etc, in the manner of the original Selwyn Smiths or the work of Courtney or Ping. Whether I am skilful enough (and hampered by my eyesight issues) remains to be seen. I shall start with the banner bearer who is going to carry the banner of Henry the 5th to accompany my Britains version of him.

Three cheers for............Heraldic Miniature Knights!

For anyone interested in toy Knights and heraldry, this book is an amazing and invaluable resource. I acquired the copy in my library by chance during the 1990's when I found it in a small bookshop in the town of Bewdley. It wasn't cheap....£20 or so, but as soon as I saw the wealth of colour photos of amazing toy and model knights by Courtney, Ping and a host of others I knew I needed to own it. A decision which I have never regretted and I never tire of revisiting it for inspiration and information. 

 As I hope you can see from the photos above, the quality of photography in the book is first class. Highly recommended!

Tara a bit!